Woah! Did May seriously just pass by like that? I still feel like it’s March, except the weather outside says otherwise. Anyway, we still got so much done. Here’s a quick author update.

Writing

Whitney:

• Blog Posts Written: 7
• Fiction Words Written: 19,776
• # of Days I Wrote Fiction: 20
• Current Manuscripts: 2

Well, I did a crap-ton more writing than I expected. This month was a lot of rewriting—I think the term is to “kill one’s darlings”? I’m apparently really good at it. It’s kinda like Spring Cleaning; out with the old to make room for the new!

Travis:

• Blog Posts Written: 3
• Fiction Words Written: 3,000
• # of Days I Wrote Fiction: 15
• Current Manuscripts: 2

I’m finally getting into the summer swing of writing, though so far it’s been recreational; nothing tied to my manuscripts. Still, it’s been fun and got me excited to get into the real work.

Editing/Revising

Whitney:

• # of Days I Edited: 30

As mentioned, editing was rewriting this month. I guess you can be writer and editor simultaneously.

Travis:

• # of Days I Edited: 0

I’ve collected a lot of comments, critiques and suggestions last month. Implementation will come this month.

Books 

Whitney:

• Books Finished: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker and Enslaved to Saved by W. Reid Litchfield
• Currently Reading: Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith
• Books Reviewed: Enslaved to Saved by W. Reid Litchfield

Travis:

• Books Finished: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
• Currently Reading: Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology by Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler and Brandon Sanderson
• Books Reviewed: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

Author Activities

Whitney:

• Author Up Challenge. I follow She’s Novel and Kristen the owner posted this really fun challenge. I’ve been writing a short scene every day based on the prompts she gives us. We all share them on a Google+ community and it’s awesome to get honest feedback back for it. Most of it has been rewrites of scenes from Destiny Seeker. I finished the challenge in early June!
• Weekend Writing Warriors. Still on the blog hop venture. I’ve been posting 8 lines from my WIP. So far it’s been fun receiving feedback, sharing what I’m working on, and reading what the others are up to.
• Writing with friends. Some of my coworkers and I have begun meeting each week just to write. Well, after the socializing and playing with geriatric dogs are over, then we get to writing. It’s nice to have coworkers that also double as fun friends.

Travis:

• Weekend Writing Warriors. Fully on board now, I’ve been sharing my 8 lines for the past couple of weeks. It’s a good feeling, getting your words out there. Eight sentences doesn’t take long to share; I definitely recommend this challenge.
• My side writing has been of the fan fiction flavor, in a high fantasy setting. I’ve done it mostly in the interest of rebuilding the writing consistency I had while doing Nanowrimo.

Fun Activities

• We went on a great hike up to some hot springs on Memorial Day. It was a popular site, so it was pretty busy, but well worth it.
• We’ve also just joined a Star Wars themed RPG campaign with Whitney’s brother and some friends.

Goals for June

Whitney: 

So it seems like I need to be more accountable for the goals I’ve set for myself, rather than achieving other goals entirely. I haven’t gotten anywhere near the Etsy shop, although I think about it all the time. We’ve also gotten a chance to write more content for you besides WeWriWa snippets. More to come this month!

I set a goal to edit 50 pages of Destiny Seeker. That would’ve happened if I just did a line edit. Instead , I digitally crumpled up pages and pages of work and rewrote something far better, which was very satisfying.

So here are my goals at least: Have as few goals to achieve as possible.

That’s it! My birthday is this month, and the gift I’m giving myself is a month of de-stressing. I’ll only write if I want to; feel obligated to do things if I want to. I’m too much of a yes person, where I want to accomplish everything after I get home from work, and it’s not fun. Like, most of what I do has all of these pressing deadlines that are set by me and no one else. So I’m telling myself to have fun this month. Maybe I’ll play more Skyrim than Travis!

So you might see me contribute to the website this month, you might not. It’s not like I’m neglecting it, I’m just going to do things for fun for the next 30 days. Wish me luck?

Travis:

My goal is to start cracking away on The Ancients Stirred again, so I can get the manuscript in a full first draft state by the end of the summer. I haven’t quite decided how that’ll translate into daily or weekly goals, but I plan to have the manuscript open in front me more often than not for the rest of the summer.